Things You Need To Do Immediately You Get A New Router

A few minutes of tweaking and configuration right after unboxing your new router can save you headaches down the road. A Wi-Fi router, left improperly configured and with poor security, can leave your network unstable and vulnerable to malicious users. This guide should help you establish a solid baseline level of security.

Although we’ve included screenshots showing different settings in different router interfaces, every router is different—please refer to the documentation for your specific router to locate all the settings we refer to throughout this tutorial.

Update the Firmware

Your router’s firmware is a set of operating instructions and tools stored on its memory chip that controls everything from the Wi-Fi radios to the firewall.

Although firmware updates are generally infrequent, and router firmware is designed to be stable, there are two reasons to check for updates immediately after getting a new router. First, you don’t know how long your router was sitting on the shelf, and a new update may have been (and most likely was) released.

Second, although not as common as problems on consumer operating systems like Windows, there are exploits and vulnerabilities that crop up in router firmware, so it’s always good to have the latest (and most secure) firmware available. It also means you have access to the most up-to-date features of the router.

Change the Default Login Password

Just about every router ships with a default username and password you use to manage the router. These defaults aren’t even well kept secrets—a simple Google search will tell you the username and password for just about any router out there. You can download entire lists of known pairs, and there’s even the appropriately named web site RouterPasswords where you can look up just about any make, model, and default login. Usually they’re something ridiculously simple, like “admin/admin”.

So, if you don’t want it to be stupid easy for passers-by to break into your network, you should change your administrator password…before someone changes it for you.

Change the Wi-Fi Network Name (SSID)

Your Wi-Fi’s network name, or SSID, can reveal a lot about the router. For example, it might be called “Linksys”, which lets outsiders know the manufacturer of your router—making it easier for them to fetch the default login, or check for vulnerabilities on that model.

Change the SSID to something different from the default, but without any identifying information in it. This means no SSIDs like “Apartment5a” or “321LincolnSt”. Something easy to remember but unspecific to you is ideal—like “Cookie Monster” or “Spaceman”. Any combination of words will do,. really.

Set a Secure Wi-Fi Password with Quality Encryption

For years, router manufacturers shipped routers with poorly configured Wi-Fi and/or default passwords enabled. Now, they’re finally starting to ship routers with the highest level of Wi-Fi encryption enabled and a randomized password set (so even if new users don’t know what they’re doing or fail to look up a list like this one, they’re still protected).

Not every manufacturer has individualized setups for each router they ship, however, which means it’s your responsibility to make sure your router has properly configured Wi-Fi with a secure password and the best encryption.

When you go to change your Wi-Fi network’s password, you’ll typically have options available like WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Select WPA2 (or, to future proof this advice, whatever better encryption comes along). We recommend using WPA2. You can read about Wi-Fi encryption and why it matters here, but the short of it is that anything below WPA2 is easier to crack. WEP is so trivial to crack a child with the right (and widely available) tool could do it.

Not every manufacturer has individualized setups for each router they ship, however, which means it’s your responsibility to make sure your router has properly configured Wi-Fi with a secure password and the best encryption.

When you go to change your Wi-Fi network’s password, you’ll typically have options available like WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Select WPA2 (or, to future proof this advice, whatever better encryption comes along). We recommend using WPA2., but the short of it is that anything below WPA2 is easier to crack. WEP is so trivial to crack a child with the right (and widely available) tool could do it.